Downrods are popular to allow ceiling fans to hang substantially lower from a ceiling. To attach the downrod often requires the installer to screw the top of the ceiling fan motor into a lower end of the downrod as shown and described in relation to U.S. Pat. No. 6,017,190 to Lackey. Another technique is to have use a cotter type pin to insert through mateable holes in both a coupling socket on top of the fan motor and into side opening(s) along the lower end of the downrod, as shown and described in U.S. Pat. Nos.: 4,729,725 to Markwardt and 4,810,207 to Butterfield.
Merely screwing the fan motor housing to the downrod may not be sufficient to keep the fan from detaching from the downrod. For example, the constant vibration of the ceiling fan in operation can cause the ceiling fan to detach from the down rod overtime. An uncoupling of the fan can cause damage to the fan itself and further cause serious harm to persons underneath the fan.
Using cotter type pins to connect the downrod to the ceiling fan motor also has problems. For example, the installer having to line up the side opening in the female socket coupler to the side opening in the downrod which can be time consuming and difficult, especially if the installer is trying to raise the motor over their head to attach it to a pre-mounted downrod. Similar to the threaded arrangement, the motor can become detached over time if the cotter pin becomes loose and falls out of the connection point and can become lost. A pin may allow for a loose fit attachment, where the motor may be loosely attached to the downrod causing undesirable vibration noise to occur when the fan is running.
Thus, the need exists for solutions to the above problems with the prior art.